Kuwait Lost 400,000 Full-time Jobs In 2020

The World Bank expected that oil exports will continue to boost economic growth in Kuwait and that growth will rebound to a moderate level of 2.4 percent in 2021 before increasing to an average of 3.2 percent during the years 2022 and 2023, Al-Rai reported.

In a report on the latest economic developments in the Gulf region, the bank stated that Kuwait is expected to implement value-added tax at some time this year, while Qatar is likely to apply the same tax in 2022.

The report indicated that the recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the migrant labor markets, noting that, according to ILO figures, Kuwait and Oman exceeded the global average loss of working hours in percentage terms starting from 2019, as they lost the equivalent of more than 400,000 full-time jobs in 2020.

In 2020, Kuwait recorded the largest major fiscal deficit among the Gulf Cooperation Council countries about GDP, which amounted to 26.2 percent, and is expected to decrease to 22.6 percent of the output this year, and to shrink to 19.3 percent in 2022 and 8.3 percent. percent in 2023.

The bank expected that the three Gulf countries that recorded the largest deficits in public budgets in 2020, which are Oman, Kuwait, and Bahrain, will continue to record deficits throughout the years 2021-2023, but with lower percentages of GDP in 2023 than they were during the decline in economic activity in 2020, likely.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait will gradually record surpluses in current account balances during the years 2021-2023 and will witness further improvement if oil prices remain above the level of USD 65 in the second half of 2021.

 

SOURCE  :   TIMES KUWAIT 

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